Prank Wars
by alb33
Summary: The Weasleys try to prank Fred and George on April 1st, but what they don't know is that the twins have their own tricks up their sleeves. A kind of belated April Fools fic.


"Okay, so Fred and George are coming over next Friday at what time, Molly?"

"I told them to come over for six, but knowing them, they'll be anywhere from five to ten minutes late."

"So we can expect them anywhere from six to ten past six." Mr. Weasley tapped his wand against his palm as he stood in front of his entire family minus Fred and George, but including Harry and Hermione who were already considered unofficial family anyway. They were gathered in the kitchen: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Percy, Bill, Fleur, and even Charlie, who had agreed to come home for Fred and George's birthday celebration next Friday. He had managed to come home a few days early, so Fred and George hadn't even seen him yet.

It had been nearly a year since the war and the many close calls that had threatened to take away various members of the family had brought the Weasleys even closer together.

"Okay, but I think the first thing would be to figure out what sort of prank we're actually going to pull on them," Ron said.

"Well, _obviously_," Percy snorted, straightening his glasses. "We could do a series of pranks, or just one. We could do practical ones or outrageous ones, Muggle ones or magical ones."

"You certainly seem to know all of the options," Bill said with a smirk.

Percy cleared his throat. "I've spent a lot of time with the twins in the past year."

"He found the shop impressive!" Ron said with a smile.

"Imagine that," Charlie added.

"Can we get back to planning?" Mr. Weasley said. "We don't really have a lot of time to do this."

"We have a week," Ron pointed out.

"Yeah, and we'll need the time if we decide to do a prank that takes some planning," Ginny said. "Honestly, it's as if you haven't learned anything."

"I like the idea of doing multiple pranks," Hermione said. "It might catch them off guard more because they'll be expecting us to stop after just one."

"It takes a lot to catch Fred and George off guard, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "They're not surprised easily, especially when it comes to pranks and jokes."

"Which is another thing we have to take into account," Harry said. "Jokes and pranks are their business and we want to prank them good. We _have_ to catch them off guard."

"But how?" Ron asked, sounding perplexed. "Trying to pull a prank over on them is like trying to beat Hermione on an exam or lie to Mum. It's hopeless because they're just too good."

"Not if you have the proper strategy," Mrs. Weasley said with a grin as Hermione blushed at Ron's words.

"You know, Mum, I find it extremely odd that you're in on pulling a prank on Fred and George," Bill said. "I never pegged you as the type to do such a thing."

"I suppose there's a first time for everything," Mrs. Weasley replied with a shrug.

"Alright, so can we agree on multiple pranks?" Ginny asked.

The entire table nodded. "Yes," said Fleur, "but zee question eez, which ones?"

Her question was met with a few seconds of silence before Hermione leaned forward. "I think I have an idea for at least one of them."

* * *

"Hey, birthday boy, are you ready yet? We're going to be late." Fred leaned against George's bedroom door and tapped on it with his knuckles.

"Calm down," called George's voice, "_other_ birthday boy." He opened the door and brushed past Fred, a grin on his face. "I'm just as excited for our birthday dinner as you are. Hopefully mum doesn't go all out, though. Just any of her cooking would be great compared to our sorry attempts at food."

"Are you kidding?" Fred asked, following his brother out to the living room. "I'm hoping she does go all out. We don't get food like hers all the time now that we live on our own."

"We go over there at least one day every other weekend," George answered, shuffling through the things on the table in the living room.

"True," Fred sighed. "Maybe it just doesn't seem like enough. What are you looking for?"

"My wand," George said. "I left it out here somewhere before I went to get ready."

"It's on the kitchen counter," Fred said at once, twirling his own wand between his fingers impatiently.

"Oh, right, thanks," George answered, heading for the kitchen. He retrieved his wand and returned to his twin. "Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

With that, they Apparated to the Burrow.

"They're here!" Hermione whispered. She had been standing behind the curtains in the living room, watching for the twins.

"Everyone move!" Ron cried.

They all scurried out of the back door except for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who took seats at the kitchen table with cups of tea and for Charlie, who scurried around, looking for a place to hide.

"Mum, Dad?" the twins called as they pushed open the front door.

"Fred, George!" Mrs. Weasley said, standing up and approaching the doorway. She put a shocked look on her face. "What are you two doing here?"

"Uh," Fred said, glancing at George. "You told us to come here for six." He glanced at his watch. "It's seven minutes past six. We aren't that late. Not late enough for nobody to be here at least…"

"You must have gotten the date wrong," Mrs. Weasley said sympathetically.

"No, today's April 1st. You told us to come here right on our birthday. You said you were going to cook…" Fred trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck. This was certainly awkward.

"Hm, yes, I do remember something about that," Mrs. Weasley answered, tapping her chin as she thought. "Ah, Arthur, that must be why I have all that food cooking on the stove. It also must be why the entire family is standing outside waiting to come in."

"Huh?" Fred and George said together. They stood in the living room, dumbfounded as Ron, Ginny, Percy, Bill, Fleur, Harry and Hermione ran in through the kitchen and into the living room.

"April Fools!" they yelled.

"We got you, didn't we?" Mr. Weasley asked excitedly.

"Yeah," George half-whined as Bill and Ginny high fived. "We were looking forward to your cooking, Mum. Don't ever do that to us again!"

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "We were hoping you wouldn't catch on. We all know how good you are at this sort of things."

"You outsmarted us this time," George said. "We're proud. Who was the brain behind this operation?"

"Hermione, actually," Ron said.

"I'm not sure whether to be surprised or not," Fred said, crossing his arms and smirking. "I can prank people, too, you know," she said with a sniff.

"Hey, where's Charlie?" George asked suddenly as he followed the small crowd of family members and friends back into the kitchen.

"Oh, I'm sorry dears, but he couldn't make it after all," Mrs. Weasley said sadly, busying herself with the food.

"Oh," Fred and George said dejectedly, sitting down at the chairs they always used when they lived at the Burrow. "That's too bad."

"We were looking forward to seeing him. It's been so long, you know," George sighed. "Why'd you get our hopes up for nothing, Mum?"

"Well, Charlie did originally say he was coming," she sighed.

"I hope he trips and falls face first into a pile of dragon dung," Fred muttered. He stood up and grabbed a glass before heading to the sink to fill it with water.

"Fred," Mrs. Weasley scolded. She was smiling, though.

"Actually, Fred, I think that's going to be hard for Charlie to do," George said slowly. Fred turned to see his brother squinting at one of the lower cupboards.

"Why's that?" Mrs. Weasley asked nervously.

"Because," George began, "he's not in Romania. He's here!" He pointed his wand at the cupboards and they sprung open, revealing Charlie, who toppled onto the floor.

"How did you guess?" he asked incredulously.

"You closed the cupboard on your shoelace. It was dangling out past the edge of the door. I knew it was you because I would recognize those shoelaces anywhere. You've had them forever and just continuously switched them out of your old shoelaces and into new ones as you got them."

Charlie looked defeated. "We almost pulled another prank over on you, too!"

"You had _me_ fooled for a second," Fred admitted.

"I believed it right up until I saw your shoelace, so don't feel so bad," George added. He looked around the room. "So, who came up with _this_ clever prank?"

"Mum, this time," Ron said, grinning at his mother.

"_No_," Fred and George gasped incredulously, gaping at their mother.

"Yes," she answered. "Surprised, aren't you?"

"I don't know whether to be more surprised that Hermione came up with a prank or you, Mum," George said.

"You shouldn't be surprised," Mrs. Weasley said as Hermione raised her eyebrows indignantly.

"And why's that?" Fred asked, sitting back down in his chair and leaning back, lacing his hands behind his head.

"I raised you two. I had to have learned a thing or two."

"We always thought you were too angry and annoyed by pranks to actually pay attention to them," George said, standing up and going to stand behind his mother. He looked over her shoulder into the pot. "Can I do anything to help?"

"Okay, now it's my turn to be surprised," Mrs. Weasley said. "You're volunteering to help cook?"

George nodded. "Fred and I appreciate hard work and cooking now. We always thought cooking was easy. You made it look that way, at least." He grinned at his mother, who beamed back.

"Well, okay, you can keep your eye on the soup. Make sure it doesn't bubble over. Stir it every now and then." With that, she busied herself with other things and when dinner was finally prepared, she brought everything to the table.

"Fleur, would you mind getting me a bowl of soup? You're closer," Bill said with a large grin.

Fleur rolled her eyes and sighed, but broke out into a grin. "Give me your bowl." Bill passed it over and Fleur picked up the ladle and leaned over the soup pot. After a second, she let out a shriek.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Mrs. Weasley yelped as everyone's eyes shot to Fleur.

"There eez a bug een zee soup!"

"A bug? But that's not possible!" Mrs. Weasley shot up out of her chair and peered into the pot. Her expression turned to one of disgust. "Oh, Fleur, you're right. What are we going to do now?"

"Oh, come on, Mum, it's just a bug." Fred stood up and joined his mother at the pot. "Yeah, look, it looks like a tiny little spider."

"No soup for me," Ron said, looking queasy.

"Well, the spider's surely dead by now. Probably drowned," Fred said.

"Still, it's been sitting in there," Ron said.

"I don't know how this could have happened!" Mrs. Weasley said, sounding shocked.

"It's not a big deal!" Fred laughed. He took the ladle from Fleur and carefully scooped the spider up before dumping it into his mouth. Everyone let out noises of shock and disgust.

"What's wrong with you?" Ginny asked, wrinkling her nose.

"You weren't lying when you said you were having trouble cooking," Charlie added. "If you've resorted to eating spiders then maybe you should move back home and let Mum cook for you again."

"They're better if they're made of chocolate," Fred said.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Fred opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, showing the spider, half melted. "April Fools! It was a chocolate spider!"

The entire room was silent for a few seconds before Mrs. Weasley wrenched the soup ladle from Fred and lightly smacked him with it. When she was done, Fleur grabbed it from her and hit Fred as well.

"Merlin, calm down!" Fred yelped, cowering slightly and letting out a laugh.

"How did you manage to get it in the pot?" Ron asked.

"George did it!" Harry said, bursting into laughter, "when he went to stir the soup!"

George beamed, stood up, and took a bow. Mrs. Weasley took the ladle from Fleur and used it to hit George.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing his shoulder. "So, it's okay for you to prank us but when we actually get you, you hit us?"

"We pulled harmless pranks on you. This was serious."

"It was a _chocolate_ spider. They're completely edible. A new invention for the shop, actually," Fred said proudly.

"Which reminds us," George added, glancing at Fred. "We've got some good news."

"The shop is doing so well that we're opening up a new branch," Fred continued, "and we're going to be living in the new shop instead of the one we're at now."

"Is it in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked.

"No," George answered. "It's in Argentina."

"Really?" Bill asked, narrowing his eyes. "That's funny, because I was almost certain you were going to say it was in the town of This-Is-A-Prank, just north of I-Caught-You and south of Nice Try."

"What?" Fred asked, trying to sound innocent, but letting out a small laugh instead.

"Admit it, it was a prank," Bill said smugly as Mrs. Weasley let out the breath she was holding.

"Oh, thank goodness. I don't know what I would do if you moved to Argentina."

"Fine, you caught us," George said.

"So, I believe that's one successful prank and one failed prank for each of us," Percy said, scribbling something onto his napkin.

"You're keeping score?" Fred asked, leaning over to look at the napkin.

Percy nodded. "And as of right now, Team Burrow is tied with Team Wizard Wheezes. What are you going to do about it?"

"Is that a challenge?" Fred asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We accept," George said, narrowing his eyes as well and smirking. "You all don't know who you're messing with."

"Oh, I think we do," Charlie laughed.

Pranks continued throughout the night with Fred dropping a special gumball into Ron's drink that made it fizz over the top of the glass, Ginny 'breaking the news' to her brothers that she was pregnant with triplets (which the twins didn't buy for a second), and George turning Fleur's hair purple with a subtle flick of his wand. It stayed like that for five minutes until Bill could stop laughing enough to tell her what was wrong.

Finally, it was time for cake. Mrs. Weasley brought out a beautifully decorated chocolate cake, which was Fred and George's favorite. Everyone joined in to sing Happy Birthday and then Mrs. Weasley handed the twins the knife. "Here, you two should cut the cake. Hermione told us that for Muggles, it's good luck for the birthday person to be the first to cut the cake. You two can do it together and I'll get a picture."

"We're not Muggles, though," George said.

"Just do it for me," Mrs. Weasley said, waving her hand impatiently.

Fred and George both shrugged before taking the knife together and sticking it into the cake. Mrs. Weasley held up the camera and started snapping pictures.

"Uh, Mum, what did you put in this cake?" Fred asked as he and George struggled to get the knife through the cake. It was squishy, but the knife would simply not cut the cake.

"It's…not….cutting…" George said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you know what?" Mrs. Weasley said, lowering the camera. "I might have accidentally made a sponge cake." She leaned over and ran her finger through the frosting, revealing a little bit of what was underneath. "Yes, that's definitely sponge cake. With a real sponge."

"Come again?" Fred asked after a moment of silence.

"April Fools," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling as she licked the frosting off of her finger before rinsing it off in the sink.

Fred and George just stared around the room. Everyone was trying to stifle their laughter. "Mum," George began.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly.

"Please tell us you baked another real cake," Fred finished.

Mrs. Weasley burst into laughter and soon everyone else did as well. "Of course I did!" she said.

"I must say, that was a good one," George said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"But this isn't over yet," Fred finished. "The night is still young. We've got three hours until April first is officially over. That's an eternity for pranksters."

"Is that a challenge?" Percy asked.

"It is," George answered.

"Well, then," Percy said, straightening his glasses and looking around the room, "Team Burrow, do we accept?"

"We do," Ginny said, leaning forward excitedly.

Fred and George looked at each other. "Excellent," they said at once. "Oh, and Ginny," Fred said.

"Yes?"

"I wouldn't drink the rest of your water if I were you."

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Ginny asked, quickly snatching up her glass and looking into it. "What did you two do to it?"

"Well, nothing to the water specifically," Fred began with a chuckle.

Ginny tried to set the glass down, but she couldn't even unwind her fingers from the side. She shook her hand frantically, but to no avail.

"A Permanent Sticking Charm," George said.

"_Permanent_?" Ginny gasped, looking up at them.

"Ah, double April Fools," Fred laughed. "It's temporary. It'll wear off in the next ten minutes."

Ginny frowned and slumped back in her chair. "This is far from over."

"Oh, we know, but don't worry," Fred said, looking at George. "We're prepared."

"In all seriousness," George said, "we're very proud of you all for putting this much effort into pranking us. You came up with some good ones. The only problem is that Fred and I are just…better." He smirked and waved his wand. Water balloons then fell from every possible crevice that was above the kitchen table, soaking everyone.

Fred and George high fived. "When are they going to learn not to mess with the pros?" George muttered to his twin.

"I hope they never do," he answered. "This was way too much fun to watch."

"Well," George said, holding up his butterbeer, "until next year, Freddie."

"Until next year?" Fred snorted, picking up his own butterbeer. "Until _tomorrow_."

George laughed and clinked his glass against Fred's. "Until tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N: I meant to upload this on April Fool's Day, but I wasn't happy with it and almost deleted it. Then I decided I didn't want to so I fixed it up and decided to post it. It's kind of a really belated April Fool's Day story. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review!**


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